July 16: a day of lakes and fantistic vistas

RMNP has a shuttle system similar to Zion, which will take you to most popular trailheads. I used this system to explore the various hikes while Gary fished. Unfortunately, the lines at the shuttle stops can sometimes be a little "Disney-esque", as Brett says. When we arrived at the Bear Lake trailhead, it really did look like Tom Sawyer's Island at Disneyland. Needless to say, you don't have the trails or the lakes to yourself!

We hiked the short way to Nymph Lake, which is supposedly fishless, but sure looks like a place fish would like!

Then it was on up the trail to Dream Lake, where Gary stopped to do some fishing (catch and release) while I continued on....

A waterfall on the way to Emerald Lake...

Defintely did not have Emerald Lake to myself; there was a large group of folks there, some going for a quick polar bear swim.

Then back down to Dream Lake where Gary caught and released a nice-sized Greenback Cutthroat Trout.

A nice view of the Rocky Mountains (appropriately named) from the trail...

After the Bear Lake trails, Gary headed down to Sprague Lake (where you can actually keep the fish, though he had no luck there). I went up the Alberta Falls trail which was well worth the little walk!

Then I continued down to meet Gary at Sprague Lake...about 7 miles in total for the day.

That night we had Tin Foil Dinners (yummy once again!) with Olivia, Brett and his parents at their campsite. It was a full and very fun day.